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I would like to suggest a few improvements for the smart maps. I sorted them by importance / ease of implementation.

Summary:

1. Beeing able to exchange / replace an image of a smart-map. -> Already implemented (see "clear image option in the tool menue of smart images")
2. Pin image customization.
3. Move smart-image snippeds to other topics.
4. Link to a single map from several different Topics.
5. Multi-Layered image masks to enable not only discrete point pins but areas to be linked to a topic. This would enable political/city maps.
6. Interlinking smart maps, so that a bigger map can have references to smaller areas within that map with a higher resolution.

1)

It would be nice to enable a function, that swaps the image of the smart map with another one of the same size. I need this, because the way I create my campaign, I first create a map, then I detail it out. I start in the upper right corner with my group and detail that area out, placing settlements etc. For the rest of the map, I only create mayor Cities. Now and then I want to add another new location, so I add them to my map-image in Gimp. But when I want to update the map in Realm Works, I can't just replace the underlying image. I have to create a new smart-map and have to create every single new Place pin again. Thats awful if you just want to add a single, new location, but have to create 20 other pins again and again.

2)

It would be handy to have a selection of different image pins to choose from. The one we have is okay, but it would be nice to have two additional ones: One beeing just a simple round circle without the point underneath, and another one that is only visible in edit mode. Why would I like thoose alternatives? Take a look at one of my region map images:http://www.illusion-games.de/downloa...unkelwald.jpeg
When I import that map and place the pins, they cover the name of all my locations and they hide the more specific location icons that I made for my map (see this image).

A round pin would allow me, to place it just abover my other round icons. Or an invisble one (on click, it looks for the nearest invisible point and selects that if it is below a certain pixel distance threshold). An easy and fast alternative would be, to select the transparency level of the location marker icons.

3)

It would be cool to beeing able to move snippets not only whithin a topic, but also towards other topics.

4)

If you have a region with multiple subregions, you might not always have a smaller map for every subregion. But you would still like to link to a map. But you don't want to create multiple times the same map with the same links etc. for every subregion. You would like to link to the smart-image map of another topic.

5)

It would be cool to enable multiple layered image masks above smart images. That way we could mark certain areas, for example to make an overlay over a geographical map that shows the different kingdoms / political parties / magic flows etc. Thoose masks could be shown optional when looking at a map. And the marked area could be interlinked with a topic, so that it is second in order when the map is clicked: If someone clicks on a map pointer, that point is shown. If he clicks next to the map pointer, a check for the mask layer is made an the associated topic is displayed. That would also enable to have one map, containing associations to regions and cities at the same time.

6)

A smart transition system between map images, similar to google earth. if you zoom in, from a certain point, you will see a more detailed map of the area. Current state is, that you can't put in maps larger than a certain size. When you try to enter a map that has 17000 by 10000 pixels, you get a warning. But instead of giving a warning, RealmWorks could do two things with it: Cut it into smaller chunks and creating a lower-resolution version from the big one. The low-resolution image is shown at the beginning, but if you zoom in enough, the according chunk image is shown instead.

Alternative: Enable the user to specify, which more detailed smart images show the same region as the big overview map. First, the user creates the detailed smart images and the overview map. Then he selects the overview map and says, that he wants to align an subregion smart map for this image and he selects the already existing subregion smart image, which is shown in half-transparent above the overview map image. He then can rotate and scale the image till it fits and saves the changes. After that, when a user zooms in on a region of the bigger image, the view transitions to the more detailed region image.

As for number 1, I can confirm that this is definitely available now. I'm currently running an overland hexcrawl type campaign. I've got my map created in Hexographer, and as the PCs uncover hidden elements, I've been adding icons to represent the locations.

I'm keeping the master map as a Hexographer project, and between sessions when they find something formerly hidden, I go into the project and add the element. I then output a .png from the project, and as long as the resolution is identical to my original map output, I can change the image in the smart image snippet, and it keeps all the reveal masking and pins in place. I've done this at least five or six times already, and it works like a champ.

As for some of your other points, I and others have also requested more customizable pins. The argument is the pin color chosen came after a lot of trial and error for visibility and such (which I see). There has definitely been mention of this, and my understanding is that more flexible pins and/or icons are on the roadmap, but my guess is they're pretty far down the list given the other big things on LWD's plate (content market, web client, calendars, etc).

Also, the idea of additional layers on smart images has come up, and it is my understanding that this is also on the roadmap. That would probably get you a lot of what you're looking for with things like revealable political boundaries and the like.

Ah, alright, found the image replace function. (For future readers: Open the smart image, click on the tools-icon or hit F7, then use "clear image". This keeps the pin positions and you are able to choose another image. The image doesn't have to have the same size, but it is aligned to the upper left, so if you change the size the pin positions might be misaligned).

Example for 4):

My world has the following structure:

World -> Contintents -> Regions -> Subregions -> Hexes

I have a map for the world, for several regions and a big hexmap for a single region. On the big world map, I have pins for all the regions. But I would like to have a topic in the continent description, pointing towards the big world map (best would be, to have it focus on a certain region of that map).

Nope, I don't have such a link in the most right column, because on the world map, I have only pins for regions, not for continents (because, where should I put a pin for a continent? I wouldn't find it among the other pins because they all look the same).

I realize this thread is pretty old, but rather than start a new one....

I'd like to see smart image maps have the ability to set a map scale in the image (pick two points and define a distance) that enables use of a measuring tool to measure distances on the map (in miles, or km, or whatever). Kind of like the ruler tool available in google earth.